Going InZane! Gameplay Insights/Synergy Needed Please

[bobinaustin]

I have three toons, FL4K was me first, 57- Mayhem 2 dude. Then Amara who I got to 43, and now Zane is 57 - Mayhem 2. Got to the end of the Mailwan Takedown on M1, couldn’t get very far on M2.

I am not a runner, slider, jumper type of Zane … I’m more of Big Lebowski and Jason Bourne have a baby type of player. I do move around a fair amount, find my spot, do some damage, then juke around a lot. I like finishing things off with Maggie as a closer when need be, so satisfying.

I enjoy the gameplay of the barrier/clone style, only the clone is at captsone (? - all the way to the top), but the barrier is close. Any game ever, Im always obsessed with finding the the best utility solo hybrid.

I have a decent Seeing Dead or Red- I’m seeing something, a Dastardly Maggie, an Lab, an Insider which wrecks outside of the takedown, and my two Soulrenders that also face melt peeps in regular M2 but not the takedown. I also have an Anarchy that I’m beginning to get to a degree, it’s strong situationally like the Valks.

Ok, so my confusion. I have a God shield on, all fire- a fire grenade mod, and my fire soulrender. In non-raid gameplay, it melts through armor, shields, health AND I think it even took out a building. Ok, maybe not that last one. My relic is Victory Rush … sponsored by Starbucks. But when I get in the raid, that exact same combo does nada. It does help with the turret gunners when you first arrive, but then, meh.

I end up using the lab up close, a cryo one - Maggie as a finisher, and the Insider for mobbing, my cool and frosty Soulrender for the Valks.

I just don’t get how to create gear synergy for my playstyle and spec? Im not a min maxer. I just like having fun and being pushed, which BL3 has definitely done.

My builds are more, well, that would be cool- with testing - with, that was cool! For example, I’m maxed out on the first shot could be a grenade and with a few points in the crits = freeze, and kills = freeze. I find Winter Soldier builds, pure ones, boring, but I like a little freeze now and then, with a whole lot of- I just melted your face with fire. Fire & Ice I guess.

Thoughts? Insights? Drink recommendations?

Also, as an aside, when are we going to get the Zane Combat Kilt skin?!? Just saying … “ah, boyo, liking the look of me legs, are ya?”

Many thanks for your time,
Jin

[Superfr34k (SteJay)]

You could start getting rid of most of pocket full of nades and duct tape mod. Those are terrible. You’re probably better off just using fractal frags. Especially if you’re using seeing dead. If you get up to 1 point into salvation you can get rid of refreshment and rise to the occasion completely. If you have seein dead you should get rid of best served cold as well, because you will always chill yourself when standing in water or detonate environmental hazards near you.

[bobinaustin]

GAH! I was wondering why I was always killing myself! Fractal frags to proc?

[Superfr34k (SteJay)]

I… Don’t understand the question.

[bobinaustin]

Thats me being a Dweeb. I don’t have the specific skills memorized so I’m like, “a type of hex?” LOL

So something like this?

I’ve always gone with high fire rate weapons, they just are more fun although I am slowly seeing the benefit of things like the Anarchy. Thanks for the help, any gear thoughts would be great but no worries if none come to mind. Gear thoughts in terms of me understanding synergy mechanics, that’s where I tend to get lost, thus killing myself all the time (due to my old spec) and not even knowing it!

[rayzapper_the_red (Michael)]

I think the problem is your build. If you’re using a Seein’ Dead class mod, you pretty much have to be pretty deeply invested in the Hitman tree (maybe not get the capstone, but at least get one of the Tier 4 skills), because Zane’s best kill skills are in that tree. And Seein’ Dead is by and far Zane’s best class mod, and is pretty much essential if you’re planning on going onto the higher Mayhem levels. However, I’m playing on Mayhem 1 and am able to do the Maliwan Takedown without it (no DLC), but then again, I am running a Barrier/Drone build, which works because Zane’s main source of power is, again, his kill skills.

EDIT:
This is the build I’m using.
This is my best attempt at a build that focuses on both Barrier and Clone (I’m assuming you want to stick with Calm, Cool, Collected), while trying to take advantage of Seein’ Dead. However, it falls short in that it can’t get Double Barrel. I recommend getting a Seein’ Dead with points in Violent Violence and at least one point in Playing Dirty.
This is a variation of the previous build, except without Calm, Cool, Collected, allowing you to get Double Barrel.

[bobinaustin]

Hey Michael - thanks for the support and suggestions. I went with a Playing Dirty centric build very similar to the second build you listed. I then started farm high projectile weapons although I confess, Im not exactly clear on what those are unless they say so. For example, the Anarchy says on there, the number of projectiles.

So far, I got a nice Hellfire, an ok Night Hawkin, want to get a better one, always love my Soulfires but need to farm M2 vs M1 versions, and a corrosive lab that melts everything which is situational, hope that will help me on Mailwain Takedown. That Hellfire is insane in terms of it burning down shields.

I also got an Elephant Elemental Projector that pairs with my Old Gold, 60% protection against fire, good fire output, but I don’t remember much fire in Mailwain. I got a bunch of God shields, so if I can get a shock projector artifact that would be better to solo that raid?

[rayzapper_the_red (Michael)]

When I beat the Maliwan Takedown on Mayhem 1, for my main weapons, I was using a Maggie (mine was unanointed, but you probably want an anointment on it like ASA +200% or SNTNL Cryo), Cryo Dictator, OPQSystem (with SNTNL Cryo anoint; I hope you were able to farm one while the cartel event was still running, as even without an anoint it’s an amazing weapon), and Cryo Lob (though I also had Shock, Fire, and Corrosive ones in my inventory). You’ll definitely want good Shock and Corrosive weapons for Wotan that can be used without getting close (so the Lob isn’t the best pick there), such as the Conference Call. The Cutsman is another good gun for mobbing, as is the Brainstormer. The Anarchy and Night Hawkin are good guns as well.

I’m not sure about how well the Old God synergizes with Zane (if you’re using Calm, Cool, Collected, you probably want to use a Re-Charger to help keep your shield up at all times), but I’m not sure if an Elemental Projector works too well on Zane for mobbing, since the goal is to keep your shield full and avoid status effects. I’m using a Snowdrift Victory Rush, which really helped me during the Wotan fight during times when my Barrier went down (I pretty much just slid around the arena at rapid speed avoiding attacks until my Barrier was back up).

Although it may be a little outdated, the Top Gear for Zane thread is always a good resource to check, though it’s not always the end-all resource, especially if you find stuff that works well for you.

[oddytee]

I personally haven’t used Digi-Clone much, but this is an awesome high-damage solo build and it’s been fun as hell (I like using rapid-fire weapons, too) https://bl3skills.com/operative/#505530110001104054111511050050000000000
This one’s balanced around Mayhem 10, it’s built around freezing enemies to refresh action skills, especially if you can land the crits, and I can have one or both of my action skills up around 90% of the time… Having Barrier up constantly helps to keep health / shields at 100% as much as possible.

A few notes I have for the different skill trees:
Under Cover
-The 5 points in Adrenaline brings your Barrier back up before SNTNL expires, giving you a good chance to keep shields topped to get somebody frozen
-Nerves of Steel is optional, I’m actually not having much luck keeping it up in M10, but may be better at lower Mayhem levels
Hitman
-If you don’t really shoot much while moving Violent Speed / Momentum pts can be reduced
-Drone Delivery will proc your grenade anointment every 15 seconds
-Salvation - I only have 1 pt here due to M10 weapons filling the health bar in a few shots, might want a few more in there for lower mayhems
-Violent Violence / Playing Dirty - I like to balance my points depending on what bonuses I get from the class mod (mine is currently +1 / +3 respectively). I personally try to keep Violence topped off as it’s more consistent
-Good Misfortune - 1 pt here is good for me, Seein’ Dead procs will also increase the duration of your action skills
-Seein’ Red is pretty much irrelevant with the Seein’ Dead mod

The pts in Doubled Agent probably speak for themselves

The Band of Sitorak shield from The Unstoppable is fantastic for getting shields topped back up ASAP (Barrier up-time pretty much negates the need for a large shield). He’s just a tedious farm as you want to wait for him to kill a few enemies and level up before nuking him. I’m currently using The Transformer myself as all the ground AOE in M10 is pretty ridiculous, and the shock pools will charge it up. If you have a shock Lob, shooting it at your feet is a great way to top it off, too.

I’m currently swapping between a couple of Last Stand artifacts as I’m having crap luck finding a decent Ice Breaker - an Otto Idol artifact is also good for restoring health if health restoration from talents isn’t cutting it.

I’m in no way a hardcore raider or anything, but I’ve found this build to be a ton of fun and really effective for soloing.

[bobinaustin]

Thanks, Michael

[bobinaustin]

I have a bunch of the Victory Rushes I farmed, I do like them. The clone when capstoned, kills many enemies before I even get to them, but on the raid, he gets destroyed almost immediately but whatever bosses I’m on.

I really like your build. I got super lucky in farming mods, I got the Seein’Dead with +3 Donny, +1 Violent Violence, and +1 Playing Dirty. I got one SMG with the SNTL freeze annoint +100% damage or whatever it is, but was struggling to even clear Zom and Tom or whoever they are in Hearts Desire. The Hellfire makes short work of them but I want more diversity than that, and the M2 Nighthawk does nada to them.

I’m just not good at running and gunning, nor am I a stand still forever. I guess my COD days have me approaching things more like that style of combat. Pick your spots, unleash, stay on the move. Never got, on a granular level, how you get benefit from the shield if you’re running and gunning. Do you drop it, run around, run into as a pit stop, the run around again? Tactics type stuff.

Im going to try your build and maybe toss on a transformer and farm the other one you mentioned. Thanks, Odd!

[oddytee]

Barrier works great either way, it’s nice that you can make it mobile. While it’s picked up, though, All-Rounder & Deterrence Field are the only Barrier mods that work; It has to be laid down to get the benefits of Charged Relay, Nanites or Some ■■■■■ & Redistribution to work. (I don’t personally use Deterrence unless I’m laying the shield down, it’s just that the extra visual effect is super annoying when it’s carried) Use All-Rounder definitely if you’re gonna carry it, you get cover 360 degrees while you’re running… about the only time I don’t have that one selected is if I have a boss that doesn’t move much that I can still hit through the shield, then I’ll take Charged & Nanites. All-rounder + deterrence work great together to keep enemies off of you if you’re staying in place, they get shocked & stunned if they walked into it, it’s great for crowd control.

For SNTNL I leave Winter’s Drone on all the time and will swap between Bad Dose & Static Field, depending on if I’m having issues keeping shield topped off

If you’re not much for gunning while running, you can save some points on Violent Speed / Momentum.

LMAO, Gearbox censored the name of one of their own abilities

OH and one tip for The Unstoppable, don’t shoot him in the head. If you take his helmet off he de-evolves and his drops are worthless. Also, taking him out in Mayhem 1 is fastest; You’ll still get the highest level shield drops and it will take him less time to kill the other enemies.

[bobinaustin]

Well, on M1, its FINALLY done! LOL - wow. I used mainly your build, Oddy, with a few adjustments (less run and gun) and the transformer shield. Man, that felt like a raid. Love it at the end when Zane suddenly says, “whew”. Everyone’s help is greatly appreciated. I was getting frustrated. Found it odd that my Cryo Soulrender is what brought down his shields the most?

I got a lot of legendaries I’ve never even heard of, so will hit the range for testing tomorrow. Gearbox censors … like anything? LMAO This is the most uncensored game Ive ever played, great one liners. And all these double penetrating weapons- ha. I didn’t die until Wotan wherein, I died a bunch of times but was always able to rez.

Time for a drink!

[bobinaustin]

Also good feedback on which augments you use, will have to change that up next time I log in. I almost never need the full circle as Im almost always working the fringe, juking in and out for recharge. Occassionally, I stand still, such as with Wotan. I just plopped it at the base of the vented elevators - pop up, do damage, drop down, get healed. LOL

Interesting on the Cryo for the drone, will have to go back to that, always enjoyed it.

[Superfr34k (SteJay)]

If you don’t need all-rounder, you could just use the build where you asked me for the builder app. It doesn’t necessarily need rough rider. You would have double barrel there as well as all damage skills.